Heiko von der Leyen

Heiko Echter von der Leyen (born 2 June 1955) is a German physician. He was born into the von der Leyen family in Hanover. Von der Leyen is married to Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission since 2019.

Early life

Born in 1955, he is the son of physician Ulrich von der Leyen (1917–1992) and his wife Cornelia Maria née Groth (1922–2014). Von der Leyen's family are Lutheran members of the Evangelical Church of Germany.

Career

Von der Leyen studied Chemistry at the University of Hamburg from 1975 to 1976. He then pursued medical studies at Hanover Medical School starting in 1979, where he earned his Doctor of Medicine (Dr. med.) degree in 1986. He subsequently did his postgraduate training in Pharmacology between 1986 and 1988, and in Internal Medicine and Cardiology between 1988 and 1992, both at Hannover Medical School. From 1992 to 1996, he was a research fellow and faculty member of Stanford University. He received his habilitation (Dr. habil.) qualification at Hanover Medical School in 1998, and was appointed Adjunct Professor of Internal Medicine and Experimental Cardiology at Hanover Medical School in 2002.

Von der Leyen became the director of Hanover Clinical Trial Center GmbH in 2005; Hanover Clinical Trial Center (HCTC) is an academic clinical research organization on the campus of Hanover Medical School. Since December 2020, he is Medical Director of the company Orgenesis, which specialises in cell and gene therapies. Von der Leyen resigned from his position on the supervisory board of Orgenesis in October 2022, after journalists reported that the Italian branch of Orgenesis had received EU research funds in the past.